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May 2, 2018

Trump administration agrees to supply Predator drones to India

In a bid to substantially enhance India’s so-called stand-off weapon
capabilities, the Trump administration in the United States has agreed
to supply long endurance high-altitude surveillance armed unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAV), which are capable of hunting and destroying
targets across seas and over land borders.

Indian and US
diplomatic officials confirmed to Hindustan Times that the Pentagon’s
decision to supply Predator-B drones to Indian military has been
conveyed through official channels and that it is now up to the Narendra
Modi government to take the final call based on the overall cost of
India’s drone programme. The matter was taken up during official level
meetings attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, foreign
secretary Vijay Gokhale and defence secretary in Washington last month,
they added.

Manufactured by General Atomics, Predator-B has both
land and naval versions and can be armed with air-to-land missiles,
anti-ship missiles and laser guided bombs.

Stand-off capabilities refer to the ability to strike without fear of the defensive capabilities of the target.

Although
the Pentagon had cleared the sale of 22 Guardian naval surveillance
drones to India, New Delhi was insistent that given the costs involved,
it was in favour of acquiring an armed drone which operates over both
land and sea. “Purchase of the Guardian drone through government to
government route did not make sense as even if the unarmed drone
identifies a hostile target over Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal or Arabian
Sea, it will have to request for Boeing P- 8I Neptune (aircraft) to
destroy the target. The time lag and effort is not worth the while. The
Indian need is an armed drone which not only locates but hunts down the
target,” said a senior Indian government official who asked not to be
identified.

The other Indian worry is about encryption keys to
weaponised drone. Essentially, Indian national security planners are
worried whether the US will also have control of the armed drones and
could theoretically jam them . e US defence manufacturers have dismissed
this concern by saying that India will have all the encryption keys for
the armed drone.

This question, and the issue of the sale of the
drones will come up before the technical team of Office of Secretary of
Defence (OSD) policy arrives in the Capital on May 3-4, 2018 to discuss
the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) with
Defence Ministry officials. India needs to sign COMCASA and Basic
Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for operating highly advanced
US defence platforms requiring secured communication and spatial
equipment.

The Indian and US officials said the sale of armed
drones could also come up during the two-plus-two dialogue between
external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala
Sitharaman with newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and
Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis in Washington later this month.

While
Indian national security planners are pleased over the US nod to armed
drones, the cost, logistics and maintenance of the UAVs is prohibitive
due to separate command and control centres and requirement of round the
clock combat vigil.